Alone in the Wilderness: The Inspiring True Story of a Modern-Day Mountain Man

In 1967, Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 and set off on an adventure to build himself a log cabin homestead at Twin Lakes in the Alaskan wilderness. With his journal, and a camera and tripod, Dick documented the process of building a cabin, storehouse, outhouse, and all the furnishings with simple hand tools over the course of a year. A canoe and hiking boots were his only vehicles of transportation, and friend came in by plane from time to time with supplies. He settled in to live in solitude at this cabin for the next 30 years aside from occasional trips to the lower 48 to visit family. Bob Swerer produced the film “Alone in the Wilderness” from Dick’s footage, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has ever fantasized about building their own home in the wild.

Sometimes you watch a film that’s so inspiring you just can’t stop thinking about it. My husband had been talking for awhile about this mountain man who built a cabin by hand in Alaska and documented it. He and I have secretly long-held dreams of leaving it all behind to homestead in the Alaskan wilderness (okay, maybe not so secret. I’m sure folks who know us have heard all about it a time or two). Realistically, I have heard that it can be a harsh place, and not so idyllic, but still it stands in my mind as the last frontier. He brought home this film one evening, and I loved it! The footage covering how to build a log cabin by hand interwoven with the beautiful scenery and wildlife was set to a soundtrack of serene harp music, and I was fascinated. Watching him take raw logs, branches, and burls, and turn them into a home, table, bench, sled, mallet, bunk bed, and wooden bowls was amazing. His commentary on wildlife and the wilds surrounding him were straightforward and poetic in a way. We showed the film to our kids and they loved it too. They seemed to remember every scene in great detail and were talking about it for days. Our son announced he was going to go build his own cabin like this in Eastern Oregon someday. Is he in the right family, or what?

Dick’s skills and self-sufficient nature were apparent watching this film, so I was curious how he had spent his time prior to retirement. From Wikipedia I learned that he was a veteran of WWII in which he served as a carpenter for the US Navy. He contracted rheumatic fever in the war, and after his long period of recovery, vowed to devote his life to bodily strength and good health. He then went to school and became a very skilled diesel mechanic. From there he followed his love of nature and moved to Oregon to work on a sheep ranch, and then to Shuyak Island in Alaska. He spent several years working as a heavy equipment operator and repairman at a naval base in Kodiak, and then became a diesel mechanic and salmon fisherman for the state of Alaska. Before retiring, he worked for Fish and Wildlife Service on the Alaskan peninsula, doing mechanic work on the side until he had put away a good nest egg for retirement and homesteading.

Dick Proenneke died of a stroke in 2003, at age 86, a few years after leaving his wilderness homestead. He left his cabin to the National Park Service, who maintain the cabin and make it available to visitors to this day. Not only do I have a new role model for my old age (Right up there with my Great Grandma Gertie. I’ll tell you all about her sometime soon.), but I now have a goal to go visit this spot when I finally make it to Alaska someday. Even if it’s only to travel and not to homestead. You never can tell where the path of life will lead.

For more information on this inspiring homesteader go to: http://aloneinthewilderness.com/

At http://www.dickproenneke.com/ you can find several films books and publications of Dick’s journal entries.

And, for some amazing photography of Lake Clark National Park, go to:
http://www.photo-mark.com/photographs/lake-clark-national-park/